June 8, 2013

7 Not-so-quick Quick Takes

1 - Well hello, 1990's. So nice to hear you again.

In high school I never knew what in the world this song was about but - thank you, Wikipedia! - now I know it is not about drugs. I guess I'm pretty sheltered or innocent or both but I was fairly certain someone was snorting a brimful of asher off a 45 record. And I thought "that's a good way to ruin a record" but no vinyl was actually hurt in the making of this song. whew.

And in case you don't want to click on the link, Asha (not Asher) is the first name of a Bollywood singer/back up dancer who would record vocals for lead actresses who could act but not sing.

2 - And that makes me think of this:

Gosh I just love this movie. Gene Kelly - wasn't he dreamy? And look at Debbie Reynolds - she had no idea she'd grow up to be Princess Leia's mom.

3 - For the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart we attended Mass at Sacred Heart Church in downtown Peoria. A few years ago they renovated the building and it is gorgeous.

The frescoes above and around the altar show all the major events in the life of Christ. Above the side altars, and adding to the story, are frescoes of the Annunciation and Pentecost on the far left and right, respectively.

Close up of the Sacred Heart statue above the tabernacle.

Image of the Sacred Heart in the middle of the marble floor.

We also had a Sacred Heart pizza for supper.

I confess, while we did appropriate activities to celebrate the solemnity I never actually sat down and explained to my kids what the Sacred Heart is and why it's so important.

So if this looked like a parenting WIN, rest assured, it was like a 50%.

Lord, have mercy.

4 - Now I'd like to offer a translation of the above for my non-Catholic readers:

For the Solemnity (think: High Holy Day, super big feast day where we live it up because it's so important) of the Sacred Heart (Jesus' Heart. It is burning for love of us. His heart is bursting out of His chest He's so full of love for us. His love is sacrificial - often there is a cross at the top of it - and it brought about the Church - the water that gushes from where it was pierced.) we attended Mass at Sacred Heart Church in downtown Peoria. A few years ago they renovated the building and it is gorgeous. (Gorgeous and lavishly decorated to help us focus on God. Getting bored during the homily and your eyes start to wander? Boom: there's a picture of Jesus - look at it and meditate. Not paying attention and praying the Mass? Boom: there's a picture of the saints looking at you, saying, "Dude, this is important. Focus. Pray. I'll pray with you." Thinking about the errands you need to run instead of worshipping God? Boom: everywhere is something beautiful to remind you that God is Beauty, something lovely to remind you that God is Love, something majestic to remind you that God is King of Heaven and Earth.)

The frescoes above and around the altar (there's actually two altars - the table-like one in the front where Mass is celebrated and the Main or High Altar which is the tall beautiful one against the back wall. It houses the tabernacle - which is where consecrated hosts, aka the Eucharist, aka Jesus [John 6:25-68] are located.) show all the major events in the life of Christ. Above the side altars (not shown), and adding to the story, are frescoes of the Annunciation (When the angel told Mary she would bare the Son of God) and Pentecost (When the Holy Spirit came down on Mary, the Apostles, and others as they were gathered in the upper room, after Jesus had ascended back to Heaven.) on the far left and right, respectively.

Close up of the Sacred Heart statue above the tabernacle.

Image of the Sacred Heart in the middle of the marble floor.

We also had a Sacred Heart pizza for supper. (Catholics are weird, kitschy people sometimes. Maybe this seems tactless. I like to think that it's Jesus and Mary approved. Also, because it is ordinary time [not the Season of Christmas or Easter, Advent or Lent] in the liturgical calendar we try to follow the suggestion of the Church and have meatless meals on Fridays. [It's a obligation during Lent and a suggestion during the rest of non-celebratory seasons.] So it was a big deal to have pepperoni and sausage on our Friday night pizza, but that's what feasting on a solemnity looks like, yo.)

I confess, while we did appropriate activities to celebrate the solemnity I never actually sat down and explained to my kids what the Sacred Heart is and why it's so important.

So if this looked like a parenting WIN, rest assured, it was like a 50%. (This is not Catholic guilt, it's just me realizing that I need to spend as much time planning and executing teaching moments as I do actually teaching in those moments.)

Lord, have mercy. (I'll get it right next time, God. Please be patient with me.)

5 - So that was really long. This will be short:
Children of mine, please understand the following:

6 - Let's go back to Sacred Heart Church, shall we. I took a bunch of pictures of how beautiful it is, but one of the things I think is most awesome is that the side walls have huge frescoes of modern saints.

You want St. Damien, the man who moved to a leper colony in Hawaii so he could serve the people there and eventually succumbed to the disease himself?

Well, there he is.

What about Miguel Pro, a Mexican priest who disguised himself as a mechanic while the Catholic Church was persecuted? Yeah, the guy who shouted out "Viva Cristo Rey!" as the firing squad killed him for his faith?

Seriously, except for the fact that about 1/3 of the regular daily Mass attendees at this church do not appreciate babies and little children at Mass, I love this church.

7 - So without being called out by name I was pretty much called out for recommending the movie Silver Lining Playbook. "But if you like movies with nudity and language and disturbing implied violence and described aberrant sexual behavior and onscreen sexual activity and the breakdown not only of one man's marriage but of his deeply held belief in the sanctity of marriage itself, then you probably shouldn't keep reading, because there are going to be spoilers."

So if you can't tell, Kendra did not like it and thought it was smut.

In defense of myself I will say that I only recommended the movie to people who like the show New Girl. That show has way too much sex and sexual humor (two things I dislike) and the humor is quirky (one thing I love about it) so obviously it's not gonna be everyone's cup of tea. Which is probably everyone who watched Silver Lining Playbook and hated it.

I really do need to apologize though for one thing I did say - which was that there are no sex scenes in the movie. As Kendra and her commenters point out there is a sex scene that shows an adulterous couple being confronted by the character who is being cheated on. Honestly the scene didn't bother me because it wasn't titillating, what they were doing was obviously wrong (adultery), and it ended in a violent confrontation between the two men. That's the impression it left on me - as a confrontation - and when I said there were no sex scenes I honestly didn't even remember the adultery. There was not a sex scene in that the main characters didn't jump into bed together - which is what I was applauding. But I'm really sorry that I got that so wrong and I apologize to those who watched the movie and then were scandalized in part because of what I said.

As for the rest of what Kendra mentions in the above quote - well most of that was what I was talking about when I said, "I like that it shows how people do stupid, dangerous things when we're in a bad place." I definitely understand her perspective and I'm glad she gave it, but I still feel the same way. But if you watched the movie because I said it was good and then you hated it, I'm sorry you wasted your time and possibly your money. And I sincerely hope I didn't scandalize anyone.

24 comments:

Ummm . . . hi. Yeah, I didn't like it. But not because I thought it was smut (Jessica totally called ME out in the comments for recommending Skyfall because of its smut-factor). I wouldn't have minded the smut if I liked the message.

If I sounded like I was comin' after ya it's because I recommended it to my husband who liked it even less than I did and couldn't understand why I would have thought we should watch such a movie and all I could say was . . . a Catholic blog I like recommended it.

I guess I should have caught the New Girl reference. I do think New Girl is funny, but I just can't watch it. Their lives are just so foreign to me at this point. I like it over here better.

I'm definitely glad you said something. I really want to be sure I represent things accurately - especially if I'm recommending them! - and I didn't really put too much thought in the comment about the movie. I was just quickly typing up my five favorite things from the last week. So this was a good reminder to be more thoughtful.

Holy cow. The baby straight up pooped halfway during my reading of this post, and while I was was geeked to read the protestant translation, well, I just can't because this is some rank stank up here. I'll have to read it laterz.

I personally enjoyed Silver Lining Playbook. Maybe it was my psychology background but I loved the exchanges between the two main characters. They were complex characters and very flawed (not to mention one being mentally ill). I thought the movie portrayed their characters well. And, I think that although he didn't go back to his wife in the end (which by the way would have been a nice ending to see), I believe it did show their personal progress. In the end, they let go of some of their insecurities, ect. and decided to be happy and ok with themselves. This is a positive message. Now, having said thisI don't know if just because I enjoyed makes it something that I would recommend to say my parish priest or the like. Probably not. :) Maybe that makes me a hypocrite. I will have to pray about that one. :)

Lol about the movie and the comments. Don't worry, I didn't watch it so no scandal here :) Lol. I have a problem with most hollywood movies of the modern society--they are all pretty much scandalous so I rarely watch anything anymore. I guess I just expect it be scandalous so i skip it. I don't know what new girl even is?? LOl.

Well, I'm glad I didn't corrupt you! New Girl - I think it's clever, witty, quirky, and very funny. It's also pretty worldly and while it's not as bad as Glee - which I had to stop watching - there have been 2 or 3 episodes that were a little much for me and I turned off. It's on Fox and stars Zoey Deschannel (the girl with the bangs) if that helps.

I watched the movie because of your suggestion and really enjoyed it. I felt like so much of the "craziness" of the characters was so relatable to me in reference to grief(hers-over her husbands death and his over his marriage). I really loved it because it shows that we are all one step away from going a little crazy (something I now know and lived first hand). And Im totally with you on not remembering the sex scene! When I did remember it I thought, "why did they have to put that in there-it totally did nothing to make the movie better." Thanks for clearing things up, but as for me, I'll keep recommending it but with a disclaimer..

Thanks for the heads up on the Silver Linings playbook. I've heard several co-workers just rave about this movie as the best. movie. ever. However, now that you've filled me in a little more on the adultery/sex...we (or at least Hubby) will probably skip it simply b/c he opts out of movies with that type of content.....which makes it pretty challenging to find movies to watch. Thanks, Hollywood!

Everything RyAnne said: ditto. We saw it based on Fr. Steve Grunow's recommendation, he works with my husband and Fr. Barron at Word on Fire. I don't see how anyone can create a plotline without sin. SLP showed the sin, as you said, not in a titillating way. It's part of the plot! I loved the movie, not so much for Pat and Tiffany, but for the parents, and their relationship to each other, to their adult children, and to Tiffany. I was expecting a dark artsy adult drama (because that's what the Academy usually likes) and was delighted with all of the humor amidst the pathos.

Modern saints depicted in an old timey medium, win.

Sacred Heart pizza, maybe you should be contributing to Catholic Cuisine? Way to celebrate Meat Friday!

I graduated HS in '98, my sister in '00, so that is a prominent memory - we used to LOVE it! But tell me, why does Wiki have no info on the meaning of "everybody needs a bosom for a pillow"???! We used to giggle at that! But I kind of love it & think its hilarious. Fun to know the meaning of the title (which I never knew - I'm much more of a music-first-then-lyrics person, so I am also famous for not knowing artists and titles for any of my favorite songs, especially old ones that i just know from the radio!)

Funny you discuss SLP today - I got it from redbox last night but hubby & I didn't have time to watch. I'll have to take in the thoughts of the other commenters after I check it out.

The "bosom for a pillow" line always made me think of the John Keats poem "Bright Star" - which we studied in my high school Brit Lit class. I don't know if that's what he was alluding too, but there's a chance the musician loved Romantic poetry and Bollywood, right? :)

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art -Not in lone splendour hung aloft the nightAnd watching, with eternal lids apart,Like Nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,The moving waters at their priestlike taskOf pure ablution round earth's human shores,Or gazing on the new soft-fallen maskOf snow upon the mountains and the moors -No - yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,PILLOW'D UPON MY FAIR LOVE'S RIPENING BREAST,To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,And so live ever - or else swoon to death.

I love Sacred Heart so very much. My husband and I did our marriage convalidation there with Father Louie! My husband was there on Friday morning too. He is lucky enough to work just a few blocks away, so he can attend daily mass there regularly. Also, your pizza is awesome!

1) Very impressed by the pizza. Very.2) Agree with commenter Diana on SLPB3) Love the pictures of the church. Honestly, the midwest has some of the most beautiful Catholic churches, in my opinion. It makes me miss IL :)

Singing in the Rain is one of the best movies ever. I love Gene Kelly! And I think I know most of the words by heart because my sister and I watched it once a week during high school!

Those church pics are gorgeous, what a great church to be able to regularly attend/preach to the child haters. Gosh, they're such downers.

And I haven't seen Silver Linings yet, but I have a feeling I'll agree with you. Not because I like smut, but because an adult movie can have adult content and still have a decent message/have some entertainment value without making you a horrible Catholic.

LAte to the SLP convo... read all the comments etc. My husband and I tend to be very strict about what we watch and we use the website Kids in Mind to check content on movies.

I didn't think the shower scene was that much of a problem because it was sort of gross, jarring, and uncomfortable, I personally think it's more difficult to watch Jennifer whatever-her name is prance and dance around in her hottie tottie bod and all those dancers..

That being said I agree that the characters were complex and made you think more deeply about mental illness and parents and all those things. I might write a review...

Just to clarify, I meant the dancing and outfits would be harder from a purity standpoint than the shower scene for husbands, teen boys, and men. I didn't mean other moms. Although it could feed body issues , but that could happen with the ad posters at Target..